With a greater number of its households possessing television sets than radios and transistors, with more families being connected to the Internet than to landline phones and with more people having scooters and motorcycles than bicycles, Delhi is now truly on the path to a major transition going by the latest figures revealed by the Census of India 2011.
The Census has thrown new light on how Delhi's socio-economic ethos has influenced its consumption story. The priorities of its people are undergoing a generational change with the Capital city fast shedding obsolete technology and embracing newer equipment.
Little wonder then that of the total of 3,340,538 households surveyed by the Census here, 88 per cent now possess TV sets as against 33.4 per cent which have radios or transistors. In fact, in comparison to the national average of 19.9 per cent, fewer households in Delhi now possess radios.
The city is fast moving into the era of computers and 29.1 per cent of the households now possess these. Moreover, 17.6 per cent of the households also have an Internet connection to boot. And with just 5.1 per cent households now possessing a landline phone connection, Delhi is showing a greater propensity to avail of higher-end technology.
The higher per capita income in the city is also reflected in the shift towards motorised two-wheelers from bicycles. So while 30.6 per cent households possess a bicycle, which is lower than the national average of 44.8 per cent, a good 38.9 per cent now possess motorcycles or scooters, which is significantly higher than the national average of 21 per cent.
In the case of cars and jeeps, too, 20.7 per cent of the households in Delhi have them as against just 4.7 per cent at the national level. Only 2.9 per cent of the households do not possess any of these gadgets or vehicles in the Capital. This, when compared to the 17.8 per cent national average, shows that the purchasing power of people in Delhi is much higher.
The Census has also shown that 77.7 per cent of the households in Delhi avail of banking services in comparison to 58.7 per cent at the national level.
With much of Delhi comprising migrants, its household ownership pattern is, however, quite different. Here 68.2 per cent houses are owned compared to 86.6 per cent countrywide, while 28.2 per cent are rented as against 11.1 per cent at the national level.
A majority of the households in Delhi (69.5 per cent) have one married couple while those with no married couples constitute 12.1 per cent and those with two couples are 14.2 per cent. The households having just one member are just 3.7 per cent while those with four to six members are nearly 70 per cent.
In terms of the number of dwelling rooms, households having just one room constitute 32.2 per cent, followed by those with two rooms at 29.6 per cent and with three rooms at 20 per cent.
As for the facilities, 99.1 per cent of the households in Delhi get electricity as against the national average of 67.3 per cent and as many as 81.3 per cent have tap water facility, with 75.2 per cent getting treated supply.
The most favoured fuel for cooking in Delhi is LPG at 89.9 per cent (national average being 28.6 per cent) with only 5.3 per cent using kerosene and 3.4 per cent depending on firewood.
Though its sewerage system may be largely clogged, Delhi still has the figures to show that it provides a high level of sewerage connectivity. As many as 89.5 per cent of the households have toilets within their premises and of these 59.3 per cent are connected to piped sewer while 25.5 per cent discharge into septic tanks.
